


Derek centered Oneshots

by aceofhearts88



Category: Dalton Academy Series
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>written for my lovely cupcake</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Things that Matter

Things That Matter

He had always sworn to himself that he would not become his father, that his children would see more of him than just an exhausted parent on the weekend… and he really tries.

Sometimes he lets that boss get  
In his head  
He can’t see passed that mountain  
Of deadlines on his desk

But sometimes it’s just too much and he doesn’t make it home until the sun is already long gone and his children are deep asleep, and Derek knows that the guilt he feels can’t even start to grasp the disappointment in his little boy’s eyes upon realizing that Daddy wouldn’t be home again to throw the ball around, or the anger in his little angel’s face upon having to hear that Daddy wouldn’t make it home in time to read one of her stories to her.

And sometimes it would pull at him, feel like a scorching hot sword being twisted into his heart when his eyes would travel from the dozens papers and files to the clock reading quarter after six again.

 

Five o’clock, he’s the last one  
Out of the gate

It wouldn’t be the first time that he would have to take another round around the block to keep his emotions from breaking him apart, another bad day, another day filled with stress and idiocy, with deadlines and too many failed opportunities.

 

And he gets cut off, flipped off, ticked off  
Out on the interstate  
And he wonders why this world won’t  
Leave him alone

The worst days were the ones where he couldn’t hold it off any longer, where he got so tired at his desk and his head would start to hurt so bad that he saw no other chance than to go home early. Work left behind, taunting him on his way back home. Stuck in traffic for an hour again, ready to tear someone apart limb by limb, but then… but then it would all be forgotten once he turned the car into the driveway, and the front door would burst open.

And his daughter and son would race over to his car and almost yank the driver’s door right off its hinges and soon enough they would both be all over him.

 

Til he hears that little voice holler  
Daddy’s home

His life had never been easy, he had always strained himself to be the best of the best, to give always more than 100%, and deep inside of himself, Derek knew that a part of him would never be fully content, because there would always be something more. Better opportunities, better case, better job, better reputation, but in his still young life, he had learned some great lessons.

 

Things that matter  
Things that don’t

He loved his wife, he loved his children and his friends, and when he found himself surrounded by them on the weekends or the holidays, saw them playing with their kids and his, he would find himself looking back sometimes, looking back on where they had came from and what they had gotten through together.

 

Time ain’t on our side  
Don’t wanna leave this world  
With why didn’t I, why didn’t I  
Yeah, why didn’t I

And while he looked at Logan being forced onto his knees by his son and his own, both their wooden swords pointed with accurate handling at his neck, he would smile and think back to the boy with the everlasting anger and the uncontrollable temper, and he would see how far his best friend had come.

And he would turn his head to look over to Julian and his wife, laughing about something in the shade of the big tree, both rocking the babies in their arms, and he would think back to the pale boy in that hospital bed, to the boy in the coma, and he would see just how stronger than them Julian always had been and still was.

His daughter would climb into his lap then, curl up in his arms and show him the new bracelet Julian had gotten her during his latest movie shoot in Paris.

“It’s beautiful, just like you.”, he would tell her and tap her nose and she would snuggle up close to him, and he would think back to the seventeen year old boy, who had stared at the flames in the Art Hall, his heart not wanting to believe that his two best friends were stuck inside of it.

 

Sometimes I take on this world  
By myself  
Thinking I got all the answers  
Don’t need anybody’s help

In the following weeks and months he had worked endlessly and sometimes even without sleep for days to make sure that this fire, this night wouldn’t mean the end of their friendship. It had taken everything from him, every last piece of energy, and in the end it had taken Logan and Julian to make sure he wouldn’t crack under the pressure he had gotten himself under.

They had saved him, where all he had wanted to do was safe them. He had repeatedly worked to bring the together and to mend their broken friendship, but in the end, his failing had been their saving grace. His breakdown had showed them what truly had been important in life.

 

When God was right there waiting

For me all along  
To fall down on my knees  
Surrender all

He had learned his lessons, had learned them the hard way in high school when he had almost lost his best friends in a fire and to their own stubborness, and no matter how much he still tried to get everything to be perfect in his life, he had realized something years ago.

Some things just couldn’t be fixed, and sometimes you had to take a step back and let others do the work for you, because in all the glory and money your job could give you, it would never be one of the things that mattered most.

 

Things that matter, things that don’t  
Things that matter, things that don’t

Family. Friends. Life.


	2. Forever

"Forever"

I miss you so much  
Your light, your smile, your way  
and everything about us.  
Now you're gone,  
The graveyard is cold, the wind is blowing, almost howling all around him and he has to pull the collar of his coat higher up to keep the ice cold air from slipping under the layers.  
He doesn't have much time, it's only a short visit today, he knew she wouldn't have wanted him to stay long in such a weather, would have preferred for him to stay right home, warm with a blanket or a coffee in his hands.  
He also didn't bring any flowers, the cold would let them fade away over night anyway, and he knew how much she had hated to see a flower loose its beauty because of bad treatment. So this time, there isn't a bouquet of white roses in his hands, nothing to place in the vase next to the white headstone.

You're still here in my heart, in my tears.  
Yeah you sure left your mark.   
And we were just getting started.

When he has reached the grave at the end of the second row, he crouches down and reached out with a glove covered hand to push the snow from the white stone.  
“Hey.”, he greets her in his silent voice, no one is around, not at this time of the year or day, but still, he doesn't see a reason not to whisper, she had always taken all strength from him, always made him content with silence, even now.  
Even after she was dead.  
It wasn't long enough,  
It wasn't long enough together  
but it was long enough,  
yeah it was long enough to last forever.  
“I don't have much new to say. We've been busy, Christmas is coming closer.”, he smiled to himself, his fingers stroking over her name, “We'll be driving home to my parents next week, I got off a week early. Boss wants me to have more time to get my energy back.”, Derek chuckled, “Logan keeps saying the same thing, he is starting to sound like you, but I would never say that to his face.”  
He would never dare to do it, because she had been more than just a friend to his blond best friend, had been like a sister to him right from the start, and he had lost something as well that day.  
They had all lost something that day.  
18 months ago.   
18 months ago, when his daughter had been born and his love had died.  
Sometimes I get so mad, I scream, I swear at this  
cause this isn't how we planned it.  
It had been humid that way, unusually hot for June, when he had collapsed into the chairs outside of the maternity ward, having just watched her being supported through the doors by his mother and a nurse.  
She had given him one last smile through the pain of her contractions, and then the door had fallen shut and he had been left alone. Left alone with his wracked nerves and squeasy stomach.  
Left alone until Logan and Julian had stumbled into the corridor, looking half asleep still, but he couldn't blame them, for it had been in the dead of night that he had called them from the car.  
I sit here in a cold room  
praying, waiting on you,  
to run back through that door,  
to the way is was before  
you left  
Seven hours they would spent alone in the waiting room, with no news, no word from Susy or Derek's mother, and they would switch in pacing over the floor, up and down the corridor.  
And then the door would open and his mother would stumble out from behind them, her face pale and white, her eyes widened and crying, her hand over her mouth.  
And it was Julian who had to catch her because he had been frozen to the ground.

I've been cheated   
Defeated  
To believe that you're gone.  
Ooh it was wrong 

“Mum... what happened?”, he can hear his own voice croak out as Logan comes to stand by his side, but his mother doesn't seem to hear him, she is still staring at him, slowly reaching out a hand for him.  
And he steps closer, the horror in his veins is growing, but it couldn't be true, they had wanted this so much, sure it had been a surprise, and of course it hadn't been planned, but nothing had made them happier in these last months than to know that soon enough they wouldn't be just two anymore.  
His mother curls a trembling hand around his jaw and whatever words she will speak, Derek knows it's bad, “I'm so sorry, my boy. I'm so sorry. It happened so fast.”, and while he still freezes, Logan's hands are already resting on his shoulders, “I'm so sorry, my sweet boy.”, and his mother is sobbing, and there is a fire starting in his heart.  
“There was so much blood and she was so weak. She gave everything and then... I'm so sorry, Derek, but Susy is gone.”

It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
No.  
It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
But it had been true. The love of his life had died, had died giving birth to their little angel, their princess. Too much complications and too much lost blood had taken too much strength from her, too much in the end for her to pull through.  
Back then he had run through the doors, had forced nurses to show him to his girlfriend, and they had protested, had told him to wait until she was cleaned, but he hadn't heard them, had yelled at them to bring him to her.  
And then he had stood by her unmoving body. Had looked down upon her lifeless face. Eyes forever closed. Heart forever stopped.  
And he had known that with her, something had died inside of him, too. Something that he would never get back.  
It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
It wasn't long enough  
“Lucia is excited, you know.”, Derek chuckled, shifting his weight to lean against the headstone and keep his weight off of his cold feet, “I don't think she really understands yet what's going on, but her eyes are always so big when we're out in the city. She smiles at the lights and claps her hands when the music plays. You would have liked it.”

He rested his hand on the heart that he had had engraved in her gravestone, he would bring his daughter with him the next time the weather was nicer again, and he would smile while she gently touched the flowers on her mother's grave and patted the white stone with her little hands.

“Logan and Julian are completely going to spoil her. We're going to celebrate Boxing Day together, and even though they are very persistent on telling me that they only got little things, I can already see the mountain of presents waiting for us.”, he stopped in his words again for a moment, “They love her so much. John is already hoping they'll get infected with the baby fever, I know Michelle and him want them to.”

Another cold breeze whipped his hair up and he shuddered, pulling his hand back to curl his arms around his chest, “I'll probably won't be back until Christmas is done, so... Merry Christmas, Susy. I love you, my rose.”

And with one last smile to her name on the gravestone, Derek stood back up and made his way up the row again, and soon enough, all that remained was silence and footsteps in the snow.

It wasn't long enough.


	3. Haven't Met You Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> written for my lovely cupcake

'I don't know what you want me to say.'

'So you admit to sleeping with that douchebag? Admit cheating on me?'

'We both know this was over two weeks ago. Goodbye Derek.'

The last message is still opened on the display of his phone minutes after he had read it for the first time, and the tiny letters so much filled with venom that he can easily picture the words being spit from her lips.

Another one gone.

Another broken relationship.

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts  
I've broken my heart so many times, I stopped keeping track  
Talk myself in, I talk myself out  
I get all worked up, then I let myself down 

Derek sighed for the tenth time in these last minutes and pulled himself from where he had previously sat on the couch in his apartment, brown eyes staring out of the window into the darkness of the early winter evening outside. For someone with his track record and his incapability to keep his eye from wandering, he wondered how it could still hurt so much.

He had broken so many hearts by sleeping with someone else in a relationship, he had broken relationships, had gone out with more than one girl at the same time, he knew romance was something only few people really got to experience. He knew life wasn't perfect.

But it still ripped his heart to pieces now. 

I tried so very hard not to lose it  
I came up with a million excuses  
I thought, I thought of every possibility

It hadn't even been the first time he had been on the receiving end of a break-up or been the one cheated on, he attracted the same kind of persons that he embodied. Unable to settle down. But the funny thing was, this time he really had thought it had a chance to last. This time he had truly been convinced that months could turn into years for the very first time in his young life.

He must have been blind, so blind. Too blind to see reality, and that was why he couldn't believe in true love for himself, that was why he couldn't believe that he would ever find for himself what his two best friends had with each other. Someone who would follow you to the end of the world and back without hesitating for even a second.

Dragging both hands over his face, Derek finally reached for his phone again and closed the message from his exgirlfriend, instead swiping his finger over the display until it had pulled up a new message box.

'Anna cheated. It's over. I'm out of Scotch.'

And I know someday that it'll all turn out  
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out  
And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get  
I just haven't met you yet 

Julian arrived fifteen minutes later, a time he had spent lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts and wondering if fate had decided to let him be alone for the rest of his life because of too many mistakes and failures on his side.

"I send Logan to the liquor store, we were out.", the actor announced himself after he had let himself in with one of the keys Derek had given to his best friends, and soon enough a smiling face with oak brown hair surrounding it popped up over Derek's, "I brought lasagna. Michelle made it."

I might have to wait, I'll never give up  
I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck  
Wherever you are, whenever it's right  
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life 

Ten minutes later Derek was still unmoving on the couch, Julian having sat down in the armchair to his left, the lasagna waiting for them in the kitchen, and the former Dalton athlete knew his friend was watching him, was testing the water for the true emotions waiting under the surface of a bitter face.

Derek sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, when the stare of sepia eyes started to burn on his cheek, "I really thought this could be something. Not 'it', not this stupid love for all eternity crap.", he spit out at the end, out of the corner of his eye he could see how Julian bit his lip to keep himself from snorting, "I really loved her, Jules, I really thought this would last.", a hand came to rest on his shoulder after Derek had finished his sentence, not even realizing how much his voice had trembled.

"You'll find someone, D. The perfect girl is out there, waiting for you. Don't give up.", Derek sighed again, opening brown eyes to stare at the actors smiling face, but no matter how good Julian was, even he couldn't hide the pity any longer.

"I don't know how much longer I can continue to wait and search for her."

And I know that we can be so amazing  
And, baby, your love is gonna change me  
And now I can see every possibility

Julian squeezed his shoulder once and then stood back up, he knew better than to coddle him in blankets, Derek had his own way of coping with wretched relationships, and even though he knew Julian wanted him to open up more and to talk about, to find an outlet for his hurt rather than to take it all in silence, Derek remained stubborn.

He staid quiet and watched how Julian walked around the armchair and then turned towards the open kitchen door, brown hair whipping around as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Someday she'll come along.", Julian's smooth voice reached him from the kitchen door and Derek looked at him, even after the actor had turned around to step over to the oven to heat up the lasagna again, knowing his friend would listen, Julian continued, "And it'll probably be when you least expect it, but she'll be there right in front of you, and you'll know she is the one.", and his warm and comforting words stuck with Derek all through the evening.

And somehow I know that it'll all turn out  
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out  
And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get  
I just haven't met you yet

Even after Logan stumbled into the apartment, half drenched from the sudden downpour of ice cold winter rain, throwing his dripping coat into the bathroom and giving Derek half a second to budge from his motionless position on the couch before he flopped down beside him, pushing the Scotch into his hands.

Even after both his friends staid with him for the night and took care of him while he gave himself one night of being hurt, one night of drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and they watched stupid action movies and old romcoms. 

And in that night he decided to be just himself for a while, to focus on other things, focus on figuring out what he really wanted before he threw himself into another meaningless relationship, before he got hurt again. He wasn't a teenager anymore, he didn't want to switch girlfriends quicker than his socks anymore, but he wasn't sure if he could settle down just yet. He needed time.

They say all's fair  
In love and war  
But I won't need to fight it  
We'll get it right and we'll be united  
Some weeks later

Derek grumbled to himself under his breath when his eyes spot the raised price of the steaks, but knowing two best friends as good as he did, they would probably taste the cheap in them, so he huffed and flung the packages into the shopping cart.

He could have cared less about their dinner, would have been perfectly content just ordering pizza for their movie night, but Julian's sudden desire to cook real food was not something he wouldn't support, he had fed them long enough, but it still didn't mean he liked to spent his afternoons in grocery stores.

And I know that we can be so amazing  
And being in your life is gonna change me  
And now I can see every single possibility 

"Stupid primadonnas, and stupid whipped pricks.", he muttered to himself as he wrenched the shopping cart around to turn into the aisle with the wine, he needed wine to survive an evening with Julian cooking and Logan grinning at him like the lovesick fool he was.

They've been bad in the first weeks of their relationship.

They were cavity inducing as a freshly engaged couple now.

Derek rolled his eyes about his own inner cynical thoughts, putting three wine bottles into the already overfilled shopping carts, his best friend's list had included fruits and herbs that Derek hadn't seen or heard about outside of his mother's plans for gala dinners, he could only pray the actor knew what he was doing.

And someday I know it'll all turn out  
And I'll work to work it out  
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get  
Than I get, than I get, than I get 

"Excuse me?", turning around from where he had eyed a very tempting bottle of scotch resting next to the wine choices, his eyes noticed the young woman standing on the other side of the aisle, smiling kindly at him. She had long dark locks hanging around her face and onto her shoulders, her pretty face kissed from the sun and dark eyes filled with something sweet.

"I was wondering if you could maybe get down that bottle for me?", she raised one of her hands and pointed to a bottle of vodka resting in the top row of the shelf, with her petite frame she was unable to reach it.  
"Of course.", he hurried to say, stepping over to her and lifting the bottle from the shelf and carefully putting it into the basket she was carrying.  
"Thank you.", the young woman smiled at him again and then ducked her head as she walked by him, and without really intending to, he let his eyes follow her down the aisle, let them roam over her slender legs and the way the short jeans clung to her curves.

Oh, you know it'll all turn out  
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out  
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get  
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet 

Shaking his head he turned around again, he had sworn to himself to remain single for a while, to get some peace with his troubled mind and until his head stopped to compare every girl he met with past relationships, how short they all may have been. Fully intend to step over to his cart again and to complete the long list still held in his right hand, he didn't see the shopping cart being pushed in his way until it was too late and it had knocked him flat to the ground.

His head, having hit the tiles on the floor, was buzzing and his vision blurred for a moment as he pushed himself into a sitting position again really quickly, his ego might have been blown to pieces, but his dignity was still intact.

"Oh my god, I am sooo sorry!", blinking at the stars dancing in front of his face for a second longer, Derek then raised his eyes to look at the owner of the feminine voice and was rewarded with the sight of a young woman with dark brown hair looking at him in horror, one hand raised cover her mouth, the guilt of having knocked him over was written all over her face, "I should have looked where I was going, oh lord, I am so sorry.", quickly and with a certain clumsiness she walked around her shopping cart and leaned down to reach for his hand, helping him in getting back to his feet.

"It's okay, nothing happened.", Derek assured her as he saw her fingers itching to probably check over the back of his head, but he had had his fair share of injuries to know nothing was hurt, nothing more than a small bumb that would have Logan and Julian roaring with laughter tonight.

"I...", his lips opened to shush her again and stop her protests, when their eyes really caught onto another, and all air was pushed from his lungs in one breath, all previous thoughts and even the little bit of annoyance wiped from his mind, all he could see were hazel eyes.

All he could see were brown pearls mixed with green. All he could see was a gentleness in a pair of eyes, a gentleness and kindness he had never before felt upon meeting someone in his life. The young woman, maybe half a head smaller than him didn't avert her look as his eyes dropped to the small curve of her nose and the rosiness of her lips. Lips that broke into a soft smile as he looked back up into her eyes.

She was beautiful. And without him really knowing his lips turned upwards into a warm smile, and when he got aware of her hand still resting in his, getting aware of them it never having let go after she had helped him up, something pooled within him, something he had never felt before, but it was good. It was perfect, and Derek would never be more sure about something in his life than it that little moment.

She spoke again first.

I just haven't met you yet  
Oh, promise you, kid  
To give so much more than I get 

Someday she'll come along, and it'll probably be when you least expect it, but she'll be there right in front of you, and you'll know she is the one.

"My name is Franziska."

I just haven't met you yet 

Or maybe he had.

"My name is Derek."


	4. I was ready to give up and then I found you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of "Haven't met you yet", for cupcake's and muffin's birthdays - special guests including mostly Jake Paige

"Have you ever imagined this to happen?", Ali asked and looked down the corridor in the small side house of the chapel, her sister, sitting in front of the mirror, finalizing her make-up, raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her in the mirror.  
"Have I ever imagined Julian Larson finding my missing bridal boquet one hour before my wedding? No, sister, I have not.", Ali rolled her eyes and closed the door to the small room again, where they had spent the last hour getting ready.

Walking back to the place behind her sister's chair, she reached up to finish the braid she had started before they had gotten interrupted by Derek's friend. She had sent her sister's bridesmaids away long ago, because their jitters and excited babbling had driven Franzi insane, and she had sworn to make her sister's day perfect.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Crisis averted.", Julain announced as the stepped back into the groom's room, lips instantly pulling into a smile as he laid eyes on his husband blowing kisses on his giggling son's tummy on the couch, the baby kicking his legs into the air, from where his father was holding him over his head. Derek huffs by the floor length mirror and almost chokes himself in the next second, letting out a quiet shriek that had Logan and Julian exchange an amused look.

"I thought you would help him.", Julian drily quibs at the blond, even after three years of being married, they still are the same two idiots, and nothing calms Derek more than that right now as Julian moves to straighten his tie again, gentle fingers moving over the silk fabric.  
"He did not want my help.", Logan says in comeback, lowering his son into his arms again and laying him down on the couch before he stands up and walks to stand next to his husband, "You'll be fine, D. You found the right one."

Derek wants to say something in return, but before he can walk his tongue around the nerves in his head, there is knock on his door and his father pokes his head into the room in the next moment.  
"Can you boys excuse us for a moment? I'd like to have a minute with my son.", Julian and Logan smile and nod at Ernest and then squeeze Derek's arm for a last time before the blond gathers up his giggling son and closes the door behind himself. 

"You don't look nervous.", his father says as he moves over to him, hands reaching up to fuss with his tie and colar again, Derek lets him, even though he knows that nothing could have been out of order after Julian had been done with him, but it calms both of them.  
"It's just excitement. I have been waiting a long time for this.", Derek smiles as Ernest takes a step back, and they look at each other in silence for a few seconds, but it's the good kind of silence. Derek has never felt this close to his father, had never felt so comfortable around his father as since the time Franzi had come into his life.

He knew his father adored the witty brunet, loved her like he loved his two children, there had never been any doubt that this beautiful angel belonged to him and his family.  
"I'm proud of you, you know?", his father spoke again and pulled him from his thoughts, "I've been telling you this way too less, but I am very proud of who you have become. Your mother and I, we both are very very lucky to have you as our son, you couldn't have made us any happier. You found a truly remarkable young woman and she'll be your wife soon enough."

"Thank you, Dad.", Derek knows he is grinning like an idiot by then, but he is too happy to truly care, and Ernest laughs and pats his shoulders once before sliding an arm around them, pulling him towards the door.

"Now come on, there is a bride waiting to walk down the aisle for you."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ali?", the young woman in the red dress turned around upon hearing her name, lips curling into a smile upon seeing the fussy baby boy in Logan's arms, little feet kicking out into the air, no matter how much Julian is trying to catch his attention with the blue toy dog. Jake helped her down the last stairs in the front room of the little church, and Johnny babbles happily as her husband scrunches up his face for him.

"Can you do us a favor? Derek wants us to stay at the front with him now after all, and my Dad has his hands full with Megan. Can you take Johnny for the beginning of the ceremony?", Logan asks her, grimacing when one of his son's feet kicks back at his stomach.  
"Of course, we can.", she answers him happily, next to her Jake immediately reached out his hands to take over the little boy who slapped his tiny hands against her husband's chest once close enough, Julian rolled his eyes and gave the blue dog to Ali.  
"The excitement is eating him up, it will be a fun night.", he comments, but the happiness of his face betrays his sarcastic words.

Logan and Julian rush off again then and Ali follows Jake into the church, where many of the two families and their friends have already assembled, she waves to her brother-in-law as he chases after his daughter in the back rows, but they move up to the first row on the left side, sitting down on their places. Jake is so engrossed in making faces at little Johnny that she has a moment to just look at him, and let herself be wrapped into his warmth, knowing that soon enough they will have one to call their own.

Their baby.

She wraps an arm around her still flat stomach and laughs as Johnny claps at Jake sticking out his tongue at him, and she cannot wait to see him as a father.  
"Mum suspects something, you know?", she tells him and leans against his side while Johnny gurgles and giggles, Jake chuckled.  
"I'm surprised mine hasn't asked already, she is the one with grandkids experience. We'll tell them tomorrow, we talked about it, we can't steal Franzi's spotlight."

Ali smiled and nodded, her sister had deserved a wonderful and amazing day, and they still had enough time tomorrow to take the lucky couple to the side before they were off for their honeymoon. Soft music swelled up and they both sat up more straight, even Johnny calmed upon the melody as Derek, Logan and Julian stepped up in front of the altar.

xxxxxxxxxx

The doors opened and she felt all nerves fall away from her, all jitters turned to a serene and content calm, she had been born to walk down this aisle. And she riased her head and took her first confident step onto the walkway between the benches, covered from start to end in white rose petals, and when she opened her eyes, they fell right onto hazel ones, and she was home. 

xxxxxxxxxx

"I had started to believe that love was not for me, that after every heart I broke, life wouldn't let me find happiness. Love was not something I deserved. I was ready to give up, and then I found you."

xxxxxxxxxx

"I have never been as happy in my life as I have been since I met you. You made my life complete, you gave me something I have been longing for for so long. You gave me you. You gave me love."

xxxxxxxxxx

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.", and no one would have needed to ask Derek twice as he turned around to cup his beautiful love's face and pressed their lips together for their first married kiss.

Behind them their family, friends and guests clapped and cheered, and Julian catcalled as Derek pushed his arm around Franzi's waist and drew her closer, prompting them to break apart again, trying not to get too lost in the moment. Franzi leaned against him for a second and giggled into his neck, and Derek took his chance to look over her shoulder.

Took his chance to look at his family, at his parents beaming up at him in pride and joy, at Amanda grinning bright and happy, at Julian smiling with the camera in his hands, at Logan bouncing a confused Johnny on his hip. He was happy.

"I present to you, Derek and Franziska Seigerson.", the minister spoke out over the excited chatter of their audience, and it wasn't until Derek turned them around that Franzi really looked upon them again, saw the tears in their eyes and the joy in their faces. Her parents were leaning against each other, smiling at her. Next to them Jake had pulled Ali to his chest, both arms protectively curled around her middle, it wasn't as if she hadn't known her sister's secret for weeks already.

She looked at their happiness, marveled at the love around them as little Johnny let out a small wail upon the loud noises the cheering and applause created in the church, Logan, Julian, John and Ernest instantly turning to fuss over the baby while Lena and Michele rolled their eyes.

It had truly been a perfect day, and it had only really started. She was happy. She was complete.

xxxxxxxxxx

It's much later that night in the great hall they had rented for the venue, after the cake has been cut, after speeches have been made, after the flowers had been thrown (Logan and Jake having been quick enough to snatch a grinning and mischievious Amanda out of the way) and after the overall excitement had slowed down a little, it's then that Logan and Julian quietly take the stage again.

They are already on the dancefloor, but upon seeing both their friends reaching for a microphone, Franzi lets Jake lead her back to her husband, and Derek moves Ali over to hers as well. And when Logan's voice fills the hall first, Franzi glances up into her love's face and she can see the surprise in them as he stares up at his best friends, and she knows the surprise had been worth it.  
"I asked them a month ago.", she whispers to him, as he shifts to place a hand upon her hip, slow dancing to the soft music, "It's our song, and they love you, there was never any questions that they wouldn't do this.", and she smiles as he grins down at her and captures her lips for another kiss.

"I love you."  
"I love you, too."

Howling ghost they reappear   
In mountains that are stacked with fear   
But you're a king and I'm a lionheart.   
And in the sea that's painted black,   
Creatures lurk below the deck   
But you're the king and I'm a lionheart. 

Not far from them, Jake had pulled his own wife to his chest and was slowly moving them to the music, his head leaned upon hers, both of them had closed their eyes as Julian joined his husband's voice, creating a truly magical moment.  
"Hearing them sing makes me slightly regret we hadn't known them when we got married.", Ali softly spoke against his shoulder and Jake chuckled, and he reaches up a hand to stroke over her back.

"We can always marry again. We're family now.", he answers her, looking up again, he caught sight of his father-in-law gently waking his young daughter from her impromptu nap on her chair, and Amanda blinks sleepily at him, but shakes her head when – as Jake assumes – Ernest asks her if she wants to go up to her room. So instead he pulls her to her feet and gently walks her over to the comfortable patio area with the pillowed benches, where John Wright had been cradling his sleeping grandson for an hour already, talking surprisingly long already with his brother. Riley having gone out with his own angelic daughter when Tess had fallen asleep on Danielle's shoulder.

"After the little one is born. I don't want to look like a whale in a white tent.", Ali murmers into his shirt and he sighs, he still cannot believe how lucky he was, how loved and happy, and so he leans down to press a quick kiss to Ali's head.  
"You will be my whale in a white tent.", he chuckles into her ear, "And everybody will do better realizing that.", Ali pulls back and punches his chest, before they both start laughing. Not soon after their older niece wriggles between them and demands a dance for three, and Jake leans down to pick Julie up, drawing Ali close with his other arm.

Soon enough they would have their own one, and as he glanced one more time over to his new brother-in-law and the adoring look he bestowed upon his wife, he knew that they surely wouldn't be the only ones in the near future.

And as the world comes to an end   
I'll be here to hold your hand   
Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart.


	5. It's what she would have wanted for them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part of the Dalton Riot of 2014

After fourteen years of being married and facing another birthday in his thirties, Derek Seigerson found himself wondering when the time had rushed by. Sometimes he felt it, being older, when the stress at work got to be too much again or when his mother came by, looking more grey now than ever before, but he wrote that one down to his sisters crazy doings, but most of the time he still felt seventeen. Still felt wild and independent, not a care in the world, even though he cared about a lot of things in his life now.   
He was a father. A husband. An uncle. A godfather. And still the best friend of two enormous idiots. There was a whole lot of responsibilities on his shoulders day by day, but for someone like him, who had grown up knowing that he would carry a part of the world on his shoulders in the future, it still felt like it wasn`t enough. He wasn`t very emotional, he had given that role to his two drama queens of best friends, but even then, there had been times he had cried more than he would have expected.   
The day of his wedding. The day Charlotte was born. The day Victoria was born. The day Josephine had been born. The day Juliette had been born.   
And recently, the day Sarah had died. The day he had lost his one true love, his one true soulmate to a disease that had stolen every last piece of sunshine from her loving soul. His wife was dead.   
Derek felt empty as he continued to stare at the white tombstone, they had been perfect together, an unbreakable unit, an unbeatable team, no one had stood a chance if they had made up their minds against you, and now she was gone. Ten months, she had fought for over ten months, every day spent in the hospital, away from her daughters, away from her family and friends. Away from him half of the time. It wasn`t fair, it just wasn`t fair to have lost her.   
There was nothing they had done wrong, nothing they had done to be punished for, and Derek refused to accept that life wasn`t always so pleasant as to offer you a reason. Sarah had had cancer. It had been terminal and end stadium, when they had found it. Routine test, just some blood samples taken after Julies birth, and not even four months later, she had been too weak to stand on her own feet.   
And though it felt disgusting now, and it threatened to tear him apart on the inside, a part of him had felt happy when she had breathed her last breath, because he knew that had she been strong enough to still be sarcastic, she had would have hated to be so weak, she had have hated to see herself fate away like that. And he had been happy that they pain was over, because it had been so visible and obvious in her face in her last days, even Charlotte and Victoria had caught up on it.  
His angels. His beautiful, beautiful and brilliant angels. There was no better gift Sarah could have left him with than their merry little group of sunshine, and he smiled, pushing both hands over his face as he finally placed the bouquet of white roses on the still fresh grave and stood back up. He had been horribly outnumbered by the time he had held Vic in his arms, but Sarah had not even been close to being finished with him. Four. Four daughters, and he sometimes still wondered if it was karmas own little way of slapping his ass for his behaviour towards girls in his teenage years before Sarah had come along.   
Now he was just completely and utterly whipped, hanging from every single one of his darling daughters pinky fingers. Charlotte, just turned eleven, looking so much like her mother, being so much like her, down to the colour of her eyes. Victoria, having turned nine just a month ago, a ball of energy, looking so much like him but with her mothers gentle eyes. Five year old Josephine, whose smile and laugh reminded him of his dead mother day after day, whose eyes sparkled just like hers had, she was his fathers own little spark of hope, a reborn of his happiness. And little Julie, who was so happy and so content all the time, who would grow up never really knowing her mother, but surely hearing a lot of stories from her older sisters.  
Four girls he had to raise on his own now. Four heads who needed to be have their hair braided, their dresses tied, their dolls dressed. There had been nothing in his life having prepared himself for so much girl power. He had been a big part in raising his own little sister, but Amanda had been easy compared to four little rascals, each demanding another shade of purple for their clothes, but he wouldn`t have it any other way. They were the only reason he was still standing, was still smiling, laughing and believing in a future without his hearts biggest star.  
He staid at the cemetery for another hour, taking strength in the silence and the peace that surrounded this place of death and ending, but when the clock stroke five on the church tower, he walked back to his car to drive back in the city. He had come because the world had caught up with him again, had pushed and pulled at him until he had all but caved in under its pressure. He had cried once since Sarah had died, one the day she had forever closed her eyes, but after that he hadn`t let his emotions cloud over him again, he needed to be strong for his daughters, his father, who had lost the love of his life not even ten years ago and now the daughter-in-law, who had always loved him as if he had been her own father.  
There had been no time for him to grieve, there had never been time for him to be selfish, to just think about himself for a moment. He had never let himself have the time, not after the fire in their junior year at Dalton, not after his mother had died, not even yet. He knew it wasn`t right, he knew that this time it was different, that it was all waiting and building up until one day he wouldn`t be able to hold it back anymore. But at the same time, he knew that he wasn`t alone, that parenthood had shaped up his two closest friends, that for once he could rely on Logan and Julian to be there for him, when he finally crashed, but it was not yet time. His own stubborness still refused to listen to his hearts desire.  
The drive back into the city lasted thirty minutes, and by the time he had parked the car in front of Logans and Julians house on the Upper East Side, it was already getting dark. He found not so little Johnny greeting him at the front door with a look on his face telling him without words that he could consider himself very lucky to be able to take four daughters back home. The poor boy, his poor godson was the only boy having been born in their closest circle, even Marcus and the twins had until now only gotten girls. Dalton would be horribly empty of a next troublesome generation if it continued like this.  
"I hope they didn`t pester you too much.", Johnny rolled his eyes and let him walk into the house, closing the door behind him.  
"I was actually rather lucky to escape most of the time.", Logans and Julians oldest child told him cheekily, Derek laughed and ruffled the blonds hair, a mini Logan they usually called him, and he truly did look every bit his tall and proud father, right down to the same exact shade of striking green eyes, and even though, both Wright siblings shared a surrogate mother, it was so funny and amusing that they didn`t look alike one bit as Eva had turned out so much like her dramatic father. Being the apple of her taller fathers eye.  
"Where is the crazy bunch?"  
"Terrorizing Dad in the living room.", John Logan Wright IV called over his shoulder as he already moved to take the stairs up to the first story again, "But you`re not getting anywhere so soon, Pa decided to keep you for dinner.", and the smirking bastard turned around on the highest step of the stairs and showed him the car keys he had taken from him, Derek glared at him, John had the decency to look apolegetic, "I`m sorry, Pa`s order."  
"I did not tell you to steal from him, John.", Julians voice had them turn around, stern eyes glaring up at his son, as Derek shook his head and got rid of his coat, Johnny shrugged his shoulders and vanished behind the corner, "You okay?", the actor turned to him and Derek nodded, he knew he didn`t like it, dark bags under his eyes showing the strain all of this was putting on him, but Julian and Logan had long learned not to push it with him if they eventually wanted to get something out of him.  
Any further conversation was stopped, when the living room door opened and the giggling and high pitched laughter of four girls and one toddler reached their eyes, it before he could help it, Derek laughed. But the picture was just too amazing, Logan just looked too wonderful, carrying his youngest in his right arm, little Julie was pushing little sticky hands to his nose and cheeks, his two oldest were sitting on either feet of the striving senators seat candidate, Charlotte talking a mile an hour about the new Disney film, her oldest younger sister backing her up with loud arguments. Josephine on his left hip, holding onto his neck and being carried by his right arm, was whispering with a gigglish voice into his ear. And his own daughter was sitting on his shoulders, pulling on his hair to get his attention back to her own ideas.   
This was home. This would always be home, Derek thought as he laughed even louder upon Logans tortured face and the pleas in his eyes to have someone show mercy, this was his family and it would always be perfect and warm and loving. Even if Sarah would never stand next to Julian again, holding onto him while the tears of laughter ran over her face upon seeing their two strong husbands melting like butter in their daughters little hands.  
He would talk with them, he would let himself cry and scream over her death, and then they would find a way to move on. To live on, to become stronger and give their little angels everything they would ever need, even without a perfect mother around. They were family, and they would forever be there for each other. It`s what Sarah would have wanted for them.


End file.
